Womens Cricket

Women's cricket in South Canterbury continues to maintain playing levels. Contributing to this hopefully in the future will be the increasing number of girls exposed to cricket through the Milo Shield primary school competitions.

This year a change in the points systems, and the allowance for batsmen to go back in if a side was all out was a resounding success.

Quick Links - Aotea Cup Matches: [Southland] [Otago] [Central Otago] [Central Otago Game II] [Southland Game II] [Dunedin Game II] [ U17 Girls 2006 ]

Club Finals - [2006-2007 Season] [2005-2006 Season]

Senior Representative Women

South Canterbury v Dunedin (Final)

Saving their best to last, the South Canterbury Woman’s Cricket team produced their best team effort in the last game in the Aotea Cup competition. Comprising teams from Southland, Central Otago and Dunedin, South Canterbury had progressed through the competition only losing to Dunedin in the first round. By picking up bonus points along the way meant that the last game in round two against Dunedin was always going to be a final as Dunedin had won all their games as well.

Played at Aorangi Oval in which groundsman Brian Hyslop produced another strip up to first class level, South Canterbury elected to bowl first. As always Janet Brehaut hurried the batsmen up with her pace, but went unrewarded. None of the Dunedin woman troubled the scorers much with only Emily Hughes (13) and Otago Volt Kirsten Spence (25no) getting to double figures.

Lisa Grant better known for her batting, opened the bowling with Brehaut and had the magnificent figures of 4-6 off 6.2 overs and with Stephanie Mackle, as usual getting amongst the wickets (4-9 off 8). Dunedin were dismissed for a paltry 61 with the last five batsmen all getting 0.

The ground fielding and catching was of a very high standard especially the catches taken by Meg Bolderston in the slips and Amy Jackson in the deep to dismiss Hughes who was starting to hit the ball hard.

South Canterbury lost the early wicket of Megan Linton and with Spence who had destroyed South Canterbury with her bowling in the first round getting some bounce and carry to the keeper, Brehaut and Grant applied themselves to accumulate the required runs for victory.

To read the full scoresheet click here >>

Coach, Richard Davidson said the road to the successive defence of the Aotea Cup was built around team morale and the will to enjoy themselves as well as always learning on and off the field. Part of the team build-up to the final was the phrase that when the game ended each and everyone of the players had to say to themselves that they contributed something to the win, whether it be taking a catch or saving a run. This certainly showed in the end result.

SC women can hang on to cup

© Timaru Herald 20 February 2007

Although the match hung in the balance for a long time the South Canterbury women's cricket team beat Southland and picked up a bonus point to sustain their hopes of retaining at Aotea Cup this week.

To have a chance of retaining the cup, South Canterbury had to win their last two matches with a bonus point and were successful in doing so. They play Dunedin at the Aorangi cricket Bowl on Sunday, the winner taking the Aotea Cup.

In Gore on Sunday, South Canterbury batted first and were give a splendid start with a 62-run partnership between Janet Brehaut 61 and Stephanie Mackle 28. Brehaut was second out with the score at 114 and the Southland bowlers picked up and began to restrict the runs. They cut off the flow of boundaries and it was not until Alana Guthrie (32) arrived at the wicket that the tempo picked up again.

South Canterbury made their way to 199-6, which was a middling total given they had to win with a bonus point.

Southland were given a brilliant start by the Otago Sparks representative Megan Kane, who dashed to 81. At 80-0 chasing 199 Southland were in sight of victory but the game changed when Kane was caught on the boundary off the bowling of Katie Millar. The South Canterbury bowlers stepped up a cog and dismissed Southland for 145, in just enough time to grab the vital bonus point.

Now Sunday in Timaru is effectively a final, winner take all.

Rampant SC women sweep Central Otago aside

©Timaru Herald 12 January 2007

The South Canterbury women's cricket team crushed Central Otago at Aorangi yesterday to keep alive their hopes of successive Aotea Cup triumphs.

South Canterbury were far too good for the visitors, winning easily and scoring a bonus point. If they can sustain that sort of form against Southland, with another bonus point, at the weekend they will return to Timaru with the chance to beat Dunedin to retain the trophy.

South Canterbury batted first and raced to an outstanding 306. Janet Brehaut top scored with 55 and shared a 92-run opening partnership with Stephanie Mackle who made 41. Lisa Grant also made 41 batting at number three while Libby Stuck made a valuable 27.

The total was massively boosted when Central Otago conceded 84 extras.

In reply Central made a solid start but after being 92-3 were swept out for just 134. Mackle took 4-25 and Amy Jackson 2-4 in this runaway win.

South Canterbury Women v Central Otago, Molyneux Park
November 26th

The South Canterbury Women’s Cricket side travelled to Alexandra on Sunday to play Central Otago in round 3 of the Aotea Cup competition.
[Click photo for large image]

Arriving at Molyneux Park, which is always one of the countries premier first class wickets, South Canterbury won the toss and elected to bowl on a very green wicket. Without the strike power of both Janett Brehaut and Steff Mackle (exam studies) in the bowling lineup it was expected to stuggle. This seemed the case when Central moved through to 31 without too much trouble. Dropping 3 catches during this period did not help South Canterbury’s cause.

Once the first wicket fell to a sharp catch to Katie Miller off Libby Stuck the game swung emphatically in South Canterburys favour. Wickets fell at regular intervals and with the fielders gaining in confidence and taking all the chances that were offered and the bowlers at last bowling good lines Central were dismissed for a relatively low score of 71.

Bowling for South Caterbury Alana Guthrie (2-6 off 6), Libby Stuck (2-10 off 7) and Katie Miller (4-30 off 8) all bowled well. A big improvement from previous games, was the reduced number of wides, which in cricket terms is a no no.

Chasing the required runs for victory South Canterbury got off to a poor start with the eary loss of Georgina Wright, but through make-shift opener Katie Miller (15) and some punishing hitting from the ever reliable Lisa Grant (28no) South Canterbury won comfortably with the loss of 3 wickets. With the right attitude Grant could well further her success in the game if she is prepared to train hard, at club level she has already scored in excess of 350 runs.

South Canterbury Women don’t play any more games in this competition until mid February, although most of them come together again with the regional under17, School girls tournament to be held in Ashburton on 19th ,20th December.

U17 Girls Tournament Results 2006

Mixed Fortunes for SC u-17 Girls

© Timaru Herald Saturday 22nd Dec 2006

On this page you can find results and articles from the Under 17 Girls Tournament played in Ashburton, Mid Canterbury between 18th and 20th of December 2006.

South Canterbury under-17 girls cricket side travelled to Ashburton to compete in the regional Canterbury tournament last week.

Having the bye on the first day South Canterbury came up against a strong Christchurch Black side, who were rebounding off a big win against Mid Canterbury.

Batting first, the Black side were struggling at 30-2 and then 66-4, when a whirlwind partnership of 180 between Jess Hastings (60) and Lizze Rae (132 retired) and later Katrina Wenburn (32) got them through to a big score of 335 after 47 overs.

Bowling for South Canterbury, after a slow start, Lisa Grant finished with respectable figures of 3-41 off nine overs with both Alana Guthrie and Katie Miller getting two wickets each.

With a big score to chase it was important that South Canterbury not only use their alloted 50 overs but also get off to a good start.

This was not to be and they were in trouble at 14-3. A good partnership of 85 between Georgina Wright and Stephanie Mackle and later Cherie Robertson (14) put some respectability into the score with the final wicket being lost at 141 after 44 overs. Overall it was a resounding win to Christchurch Black.

Playing Mid Canterbury was never going to be as daunting and South Canterbury got off to a rollicking start after being put into bat.

With Lisa Grant as punishing as ever with the bat and the steady Robertson, South Canterbury got through to 97 before Grant was caught on the boundary for 67. Mackle continued on with the onslaught and with Robertson put on a further 95 runs before these two were parted when Mackle hit one back to the bowler. Robertson paid the price for backing up and was run out by the bowler but not before she had hit a patient 38. Geogina Wright (22no) and Alana Guthrie (23) took the score through to 242 before persistent rain ended any hopes of completing the game.

When the tournment team was announced two South Canterbury girls were included – Janet Brehaut and Lisa Grant.

SC women well beaten

©Timaru Herald
15 November 2006

The South Canterbury women's cricket team came down from their high against Southland two weeks ago to be beaten by Dunedin in an Aotea Cup cricket match in Dunedin on Sunday.

Winning the toss South Canterbury put Dunedin into bat on the artificial pitch at Bayfield Park.

Dunedin got off to a slow but steady start and got through to 59 before losing their first wicket. With the windy conditions and a slow outfield the South Canterbury bowlers toiled hard but struggled with their line and conceded 40 wides which in cricket terms means another 6.5 overs were to be bowled on top of the regulation 50.

Dunedin's final score was 161-6. Bowling for South Canterbury, again Janet Brehaut was impressive finishing with 2-17 off 10 overs, backed up by Libby Stuck, 1-21 off 7 and Steph Mackle 1-34 from 10.

If South Canterbury were to win this game, much rested on the shoulders of the top five batters. This did not eventuate as South Canterbury lost Georgina Wright early.

Brehaut and Lisa Grant steadied the ship but when Grant was out and Brehaut played across the line the wickets began to fall at regular intervals – four fell with the score locked on 72 runs.

The last wicket fell in the 31st over at a mere total of 82 runs with Jenna Innes claiming 6-14.

South Canterbury's next Aotea game is against Central Otago in Alexandra on Sunday, November 26.

Brehaut hundred sets up victory in Aotea Cup

©Timaru Herald
30 October 2006
By PAT MCCORD

On the back of an outstanding century by Janet Brehaut, South Canterbury made a great start to the defence of the Aotea women's cricket cup with an emphatic win over Southland at Aorangi yesterday.

South Canterbury won the toss and chose to bat, a decision rewarded with a 218-run opening stand between Brehaut (103 retired) and Georgina Wright (79).

Brehaut's 103 was a splendid innings as she and Wright ensured Southland would have a big total to chase.

When Brehaut was retired, the talented Lisa Grant went to the wicket with four overs to be bowled. As sometimes happens on the back of a big partnership she was dismissed first ball by Meg Bolderston, who was a stand-in for the game.

South Canterbury finished at 231-4.

Southland were never in the hunt as they lost early wickets. They were unable to establish a partnership of any substance and were rolled for 104.

Alana Guthrie took 2-8 and Stephanie Mackle 3-8 in a good bowling and fielding effort.

Coach Richard Davidson was thrilled with the performance, especially as it also picked up a bonus point. "We had a selection dilemma for this game," he said. "We had to leave four or five very keen girls out, which was difficult." He said the team chieved their objectives out of the first match and they now wait until next year to resume the series.

Women's Rep Season 2005 - 2006

The highlight of the 2005-2006 women's season was undoubtedly the winning of the Aotea Cup played between Dunedin, Central Otago, Southland and South Canterbury.

Playing six games on a home and away basis, it was fitting that the final was played at the newly laid Aorangi Oval with South Canterbury winning in a canter as Dunedin were bowled out for a poultry 51 runs and South Canterbury got the runs with only 2 wickets down.

Women's Competition Final 2006-2007

TGHS cricketers dominate in final

Timaru Girls High School cricket team capped off a fine season with a convincing win in the competition final against Mountainview High School on Saturday. TGHS, who had won all but one of their matches in the Saturday competition this season, batted first and scored 182 for five while in reply Mountainview could only manage 105 for8.

The TGHS innings got off to a shaky start when opener Libby Stuck fell to a great catch off the bowling of Bailey Weston. At the fall of her wicket the experienced Lisa Grant came in and stabilised the innings, going on to score 91 not out. Grant was ably supported by captain and opener Melissa O'Brien who provided good support until the halfway stage when she was bowled by Illy Akurangi trying to force the pace.

Alana Guthrie came in and plundered a couple of boundaries before being bowled by another good delivery from Weston. She was followed by Sarah Fahey who scored a quickfire 20 before being run out. Some extremely fast running between the wickets by Grant and Georgie Hewson secured a good total for TGHS and the team felt confident going out to field.

Their confidence was further boosted when Mountainview opener Rachel Clemens' wicket fell first ball to an unplayable delivery from Stuck that clipped the top of off-stump. However, Mountainview came back strongly as Sasha Smillie and Cherie Robertson began to score freely, peppering the boundary with some fine shots.

This progress was arrested by Alana Guthrie who removed Robertson's off-stump with a quick delivery. Smillie continued to play well for her 30, but popped a ball up to Guthrie at mid-wicket who took a fine catch off the bowling of Rosana Katene.

The Mountainview innings then lost momentum after the fall of Smillie's wicket, but TGHS were frustrated at not being able to remove all of the remaining batswomen.

The game was played in great spirit and it was a fine conclusion to a competitive season of women's cricket in South Canterbury.

Scorecard

TGHS 182-5 (Lisa Grant 91, Sarah Fahey 20, Alana Guthrie 13, Melissa O'Brien 11) (MVHS bowling: Bailey Weston 2-29, Illy Akurangi 1-22, Emma Hay 1-23, Rachel Clemens 1-45)

MVHS 105-8 (Sasha Smillie 30, Cherie Robertson 12, Bailey Weston 8) (TGHS bowling: Alana Guthrie 3-17, Libby Stuck 2-15, Lisa Grant 1-5, Rosana Katene 1-7, Melissa O'Brien 1-15)

Women's Competition Final 2005-2006

The women's final was played between Craighead and Timaru Girls High School at Aorangi No 2.

Batting first Craighead got through to 172 with Stef Mackle scoring a good 50 and Christina Burke coming in with some good lusty blows at the end to give Craighead a respectable score. Libby Stuck (3-15) and Lisa Grant, better known for her batting (2-21) bowled good lines.

Faced with a run chase at over 4 an over, TGHS struggled early on but when Lisa Grant and Alana Guthrie came together with a wonderful partnership of over 100 runs, 20 runs were needed off the last over which was too much, and they finished 15 runs short with Grant 78no.